GRAND BAHAMA, The Bahamas — The Ministry of Health and Wellness hosted two-days of town hall meetings on Grand Bahama this week in its quest to develop a more climate-resilient health system for The Bahamas.

The first was held for residents in West Grand Bahama on Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Eight Mile Rock, and the second was staged on Wednesday, October 26, at the City of Life for residents in East and Central Grand Bahama and came hot on the heels of the two meetings held in Abaco.

As both islands were devastatingly impacted by Hurricane Dorian in 2019,
the climate change and health project team thought it necessary to begin its series of town hall meetings in those communities to gather information through surveys and listen to the concerns of the residents.

As part of its climate change and health study, the ministry launched its Knowledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) Survey on Monday, October 3, 2022 as a means of identifying the knowledge, attitude and behavioral gaps that exist.

Senior Medical Officer and Project Coordinator Dr. Calae Philippe stressed the importance of community engagement and hearing from the people about the solutions they have for their own communities.

The goal of the team is to work with the residents and make those solutions become reality.

“Phase I is what we call the qualitative; we’re counting numbers, we want to know what do people believe about climate change and what they do in terms of climate change,” Dr. Philippe said.

Phase II is a concentration on focus groups where experts conduct in-depth discussion with vulnerable groups, and Phase III deals with data analysis: “Looking at the analysis from the data, what people tell us from Abaco, Grand Bahama and New Providence; and then sharing with people what we’ve learned from them and what they think are the next steps,” she said.

“We are going to be onboarding a consultant who will be developing a curriculum from the information that we gain from people to test out an educational program which will involve healthcare providers and community leaders -- to come up with ideas or programs to reduce greenhouse gases or programs to adapt.”

That, Dr. Philippe revealed, will allow the team to write its next iteration of the green climate readiness proposal to request additional monies, and so present those programs as climate action and put them into practice.

The team will be in New Providence at the Mall At Marathon on Friday, October 28, 2022 and encourages residents to participate in the KAP Survey.

Dr. Philippe pointed out that while Nassau was not hit by Hurricane Dorian, there are those who were impacted who now reside in the capital after relocating from Grand Bahama or Abaco three years ago.

Senior Medical Officer and Project Coordinator Dr. Calae Philippe leads the climate change and health project team as they host two town hall meetings in Grand Bahama, October 26-27, 2022.

LET’S TALK - Residents in Grand Bahama gathered at the City of Life on Wednesday, October 26th to attend the Ministry of Health and Wellness town hall meeting, as part of its climate change and health study.

WE HEAR YOU – Members of the public were given the opportunity to voice their concerns about the impacts of climate change on the island of Grand Bahama at the Ministry of Health and Wellness climate change town hall meeting on Wednesday, October 26, 2022 at the City of Life hall.

BIS Photos/Lisa Davis